In today’s tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create an elegant, feminine portrait using primarily line art used in a variety of creative ways.
Introduction
I’ll be basing the tutorial on a photograph I took of a friend and then using other stock elements to add further delicate details to an otherwise plain portrait.
In the tutorial, I’ll be using a stock image of a stag head as a reference for the antlers and I’ll be using a stock image of a bunch of roses.
Step 1
I’m going to manipulate the reference image in Photoshop before I begin the vectoring process. So first open the image in Photoshop and increase the canvas size by 150% by going to Image > Canvas size (Alt + Command + C).
Step 2
I’m going to do a very basic sketch of the antlers. I’m going to need the antlers to be as balanced as possible on either side of the head so the first thing I do is draw a line from the center of the face and beyond the forehead. Using this as a guide, I then draw where the bottom of the antlers will be. From this, I then draw in the antlers.
Step 3
As I’m planning a nature inspired portrait, I’m going to give the ears a slight point. So using the Lasso Tool (L) with a 7pt feather, I draw around the top of the ear and use the Move Tool (V) to increase the height of the ear.
If you notice on the screenshot, you can see when drawing around the ear I’ve included and excluded some contours of the ear. This is because if I stretched them, they may look too distorted and therefore out of place in the final illustration.
